Carthage was first founded as a trading post in the year of 814 BC. Carthage was founded by the Phoenician Princess Elyssa-Dido on a peninsula from Africa which extends into the Mediterranean Sea. According to legend Elyssa_Dido fled from her brother Pygmalion, the king of Tyre, after he killed her husband. The post benefited from the vast market for the goods that it traded and grew in importance quickly. It first had warehouses in which raw metals and finished metal products which the Phoenicians used and had made were stored. Carthage then started making metal products for Spain. These products were cheap due to they traded these cheap goods to Spain for the raw metals. Carthage soon became a huge trading empire, containing much of north Africa, Sicily, and Spain. In the fifth century BC, Carthage was the largest of all existing Mediterranean ports. Carthage soon minted its own coins. The Carthaginians soon developed high skills in the building of ships. They used this to dominate the seas for centuries. Their most important trading goods were silver, lead, ivory, gold, beds, bedding, pottery, jewelry, glassware, wild animals from Africa, fruit, and nuts.

Carthage had two first class ports. One was a trading port which was rectangular and the other was a man-made military port which was circular. These two ports were connected by a canal. The Carthaginians also had great communication since they controlled the sea, the fastest way of communication at that time.

The Carthaginians began a 240 year long struggle for survival with the Greeks then the Romans in the year 410 BC. It all started when the Sicily city of Segesta asked for help against its mortal Greek enemy of Selinius. Carthage, in a lightening fast campaign sacked both Selinius, and the large Greek city of Agrigento. The Carthaginians failed in their attempt to siege Syracusa. After the siege upon Syracusa, the Syracusians built many weapons of war, including...

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...PunicWars
The three Punicwars consisted of a series of conflicts of interest, especially land control, between the growing Roman Republic and the already existing Carthaginian Empire. The Punicwars started in year 246 BC and extended until year 146 BC. During this period, the Romans had control over the main peninsula of Italy and Carthage ruled the islands and also the commerce of the West part of the Mediterranean. These two empires were in good terms at one point; however, a dispute regarding the islands of Sicily and Corsica started the first war. During the first Punicwar the Romans resulted victorious as well as in the second Punicwar, yet this was the most important one since it lasted from 218 to 202 BC. These two wars resulted in an increased expansion of the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, the main outcome that was produced during the third Punicwar was the destruction of a very prosperous city for an unreasonable cause. Interestingly enough, centuries after this event took place we are able to presence how history repeats itself and not in a very righteous way.
The main reason why Rome and Carthage went to battle during the first Punicwar, which occurred from 264 to 241 BC, was to determine the control...

...In the ancient Mediterranean world, Rome and Carthage were two of the most powerful societies. Carthage, a city-state founded in the 8th century by the Phoenecians, was located in the western Mediterranean, and had one of the best armies and navies in the ancient world. Originally part of Phoenecia, Carthage became independent after the defeat of the Phoenecians by the Assyrians in the 7th century B.C. Rome, on the other hand, according to popular myth, was founded by Romulus on the Italian peninsula in 753 B.C. Contrary to the Carthaginians, the Romans had “a talent for patient political reasonableness that was unique in the ancient world.” From 264-146 B.C., these two powers raged on in a series of wars, named “the PunicWars” for the Latin word punicus, meaning “Phoenecian.” Even with the outcomes of the PunicWars being what they were, their effects on Rome were both positive and negative, ultimately leading to the fall of the Roman Republic.
In 264 B.C., Rome became involved in what later became the PunicWars. The Greek Colony of Messina (sometimes known as Messana) requested help from Rome when King Hiero from Syracuse invaded. Though this first war just begun as a skirmish between Messina and other Carthaginians, once Rome had expelled Hiero it escalated into a full-blown battle, with Rome...

...The three PunicWars between Carthage and Rome, in the beginning 264 B.C. and the ending with the destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C. By the time the first Punicwar broke out, Rome had become the dominate power throughout the Italian peninsula, while Carthage a powerful city in the Northern Africa had established itself as the leading maritime power in the world. The first Punicwars broke out in 264 B.C. when Rome interfered in a dispute on the carthagian controlled Island of Sicily; The war ended with Rome in control of both Sicily and Corsica and marked the empire’s emergence as a naval as well as a land power. In the second PunicWar, the great Carthangian general Hannibal invaded Italy and scored great victories at Lake Transience and Cannae before his eventual defeat at the Romans in 202 B.C. Left Rome in control of the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the Third PunicWars, the romans, led Scipio, captured and destroyed the city of Carthage in 146 B.C. Than the carthangian revolt and attacked Rome.
Tradition holds that Phoenician settlers from the Mediterranean port of Tyre ,what is now called “Lebano” founded the city-state of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa, just north of modern-day Tunis, around 814 B.C. (The word...

...The PunicWars were 3 wars fought between Rome and Carthage that lasted from 264 to 146 B.C. The first PunicWar lasted from 264-241 B.C. which was for 23 years. The second PunicWar lasted 218-201 B.C.for 17 years. The third and final war lasted 49-146 B.C, for 3 years.
The first PunicWar was fought over the control of Sicily and the Western Mediterranean. Since Rome was very agricultural they had an interest in Carthage, which was controlled more by sea power. In the first part of the war, Rome made an alliance with the town of Hieron in north-east Sicily. This was led by Claudius and Marcus Valerius Messalla in 263 BC. The Romans won more land in 262 BC with the towns of Segesta and Agrigentum. n 260 BC they defeated the Battle of the Lipari Islands . In 241 BC, Carthage signed a peace treaty under the terms of which they evacuated Sicily and paid Rome a large amount of money to settle for peace. The long war was costly to both powers, but Carthage was more severely struck. In 238 BC, Carthage suddenly fell into the Mercenary War,which Rome seized Sardinia and Corsica. Rome was now the most powerful state in the western Mediterranean,
The second PunicWar was led by a brilliant military...

...﻿Kiko Alonso
History 105
The PunicWars were three different wars that were fought between the Rome and
Carthage and last over a total span of one hundred years. At this point in history, these
were some of the largest wars ever, which included battles that were fought by nearly six-
figure forces. These were two of quickest growing civilizations in the beginning of the
PunicWars, with Rome controlling much of Italy and Carthage growing throughout the
Western Mediterranean. One of the main reasons these wars began was because both
empires were looking to control Sicily.
The First PunicWar went from 264 BC to 261 BC, and consisted of
mostly naval battles between the two empires around Sicily and Northern Africa. At this
point Carthage, which was led by Hannibal Barca, had a much stronger Navy, which
gave them the advantage in the first war, although they suffered a large loss at the battle
of Agrigentum in 262 BC, which was a land battle. To avoid this happening again, the
Carthaginians tried to avoid land battle and focus on fighting on the Mediterranean. They
did this by defeating the Romans at the Battle of the Lipari Islands. Because of this Rome
wanted to grow its Navy as quickly as possible and did so by adding ships, which...

...The PunicWars
Nick
Literature
November 6th
The PunicWars are considered some of the most famous wars in the history of mankind. The Punicwars include a series of three wars fought over a century long. The wars were fought between Rome and Carthage, which were the two leading powers in the Mediterranean at that time. Carthage was considered the most important naval power at that time, Nigel Bagnall, author of The PunicWars 241-146 BC, said that they were “ …A maritime nation supported by a military force, Carthage was able to maintain her role and trading monopolies for the centuries, mainly through a superior navy…”1. The PunicWars mainly took place in west Mesopotamia in Italy and Sicily. The main origin of the PunicWars was the dispute between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. By the time that the First PunicWar broke out in 264 B.C., Rome had grown to be the dominant power throughout the Italian peninsula, while Carthage had established itself as the leading naval power in the world. The first war started over a disagreement about who owned Sicily (which was a cultural melting pot at that time), which lay mostly under...

...Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Scipio Africanus, and Germanicus. But few have accomplished the feats of Hannibal Barca in the Second PunicWar. His major accomplishment, marching his army through the Pyrenees and the Alps and into what is now Italy, is a military accomplishment worth honoring. During his march, Hannibal defeated the Romans in three decisive battles; Trebia, Trasimene, and his most decisive and well fought victory at Cannae. When Hannibal finally arrived in Italy, he maintained an Army there for over a decade pillaging and plundering his way through the heart of Ancient Rome. While in Italy he never lost on the battlefield, and eventually had to withdraw back to Carthage to attempt to fend off a Roman counter-attack led by Scipio Africanus. It is here that Hannibal is finally defeated, quite decisively, by the Romans.
To better understand Hannibal’s great military expertise, it is important to first understand his history. To accomplish this, we turn our attention towards Rome’s greatest historian, Livy. In his work, History of Rome, Livy dedicated ten of his 137 books to the seventeen year long Second PunicWar. So to begin, Hamilcar, Hannibal’s father, was the commander of the Carthaginian forces late in the First PunicWar, and this is the root of Hannibal’s great disgust for the Roman Empire. Livy tells us that after this war, when...

...Third PunicWar by Polybius
• Historical Figures:
o Polybius: Greek historian born in Arcadia c. 200 BCE. He was the son of the Calvary Commander of the Achaean League, and a close friend of commander Scipio Aemilianus. Polybius wrote The Histories- a work which describes the rise of the Republic of Rome and its eventual domination of Greece.
o Mago Brettius: Gave a speech on the Carthaginians and the errors they made when surrendering
o Hamilcar Phameas: Carthagian Calvary Commander
o Massanissa: Numidian King who repeatedly encroached on Carthagian territory.
o Hasdrubal: Carthaginian general who lost the 3rd PunicWar to Scipio Aemilianus at the Siege of Carthage in 146 BCE.
o Gulussa: Massanissa’s son, ascended to the throne following Massanissa’s death
o Scipio Aemilianus: As Consul, he commanded the final siege of Carthage in 146 BCE
• Key Events:
o Ultimatum between Rome and Carthage
o Carthaginian surrender
o Greece debates over the cause, the conduct, and the justification of the war
o Hasdrubal encouters Scipio and makes it clear that he is only looking out for his own safety
o Scipio conquers Carthage
• Points:
o The Carthaginians had to make a choice. There was "a choice of two evils only left, to accept war with courage or to surrender their independence."
o There was a great schism between the...